Nice evening activity in Flagstaff - looking at stars and galaxies through high powered telescopes with volunteers and scientists providing explanations and answering questions. Good time.

My husband and I went in mid-April and if you love astronomy, or science or are just curious about our universe this is a wonderful experience. One of the best parts of your tickets is, after the observatory opens at noon, you get to attend lectures on how the observatory was constructed, how Pluto was discovered ( the observatory is famous for that) and other astronomical topics including a tour of the 24 inch Clark refractor telescope. In the day you can observe the sun through a telescope with a special sun filter and see its sun spots and solar flairs. Then, after we left and went to dinner, your ticket gives you free entry into several evening talks and tours. There are much larger crowds in the evening. We loved the one on "The Colors of The Universe" showing how the spectral light from stars is interpreted. Our tour guide lined up beakers of chemicals and then added other elements to produce different colors with a small blast of very contained, tiny, fires within the beakers ( it is very safe) while the audience watched through special glasses which are handed out. You are then asked to guess which gas or element was produced. Kids and adults loved it. But to me, the very best part was looking through different telescopes at he moon (no planets were visible that night) and then having an eye opening opportunity to view the moon through the 24 inch refractor Clark telescope. The staff also show and discuss the different constellations, answer questions and are wonderful. Be aware, depending on weather, the large Clark telescope might not be open.